The Pointlessness of Life

This post is a reflection of what I learned and took away from Ecclesiastes. Although Solomon starts off seeming to prove the pointlessness of life, we see exactly the opposite: everything in life always points back to a singular point. That is the purpose of life.

Introduction

Ecclesiastes is one of the more depressing—er, grounding—books of the Bible. In this book, Solomon is both asking and answering the question: what is the meaning of life? Unfortunately, what we often define as worthwhile endeavors, Solomon reminds us are fruitless. If we forget the overall message of the book, this can lead to an overwhelming feeling of purposelessness (both while reading this book and in life). In the end, Solomon concludes that all that matters in life is surrendering to God.
Top

Does Being Good Get You Anywhere?

When one of my friends graduated from high school, he bragged about having perfect attendance from kindergarten through his high school graduation. The first question I asked him was what it had gotten him. He didn't get a special scholarship. He didn't finish at the top of his class. He didn't even get a nice plague or trophy. All he received was a piece of paper saying congratulations. Meanwhile, I had taken off the maximum number of days allowed pretty much every year since middle school, and I'd received the highest scholarship the state awarded, finished in the top 5 of my class, and earned cords, medallions, etc. to wear at graduation.

On the surface, it seems like what he did was worthless—I definitely thought so when he told me. Why would you put in extra effort or suffer if you don't receive anything? It's only when you put the question in context that you begin to see Solomon's point. Having done what you know to be right is more satisfying, despite the fact that you may not always be rewarded by the world. We may have to wait, but after judgment day, we will receive our rewards from God. Further, we should be acting accordingly simply because it's right, not because we expect to get something out of it.

In general, this is how life works: sometimes we put in all the honest time, work, and effort we can only to fail, while the people who seemingly did nothing that reap all the rewards. That's discouraging. It's even more discouraging when we have the mentality that if we follow God and do what He says, our life will be rainbows and unicorns. We see ourselves failing despite doing our faith and lose faith! However, God's rewards are long term; we won't always get our blessings in this life! Not to mention, Biblically, most of God's people suffered greatly. These people were persecuted by the government, by Satan, and by society as a whole.

It's easy to lose focus when we witness this scenario in our life. As we fail to see the fruit of our labor, we will naturally wonder why we bother. It is in the moment that we must remember Solomon's final words about serving God. Our soul duty is to serve God, regardless of how we perceive our lives. At our lowest and highest points, the only thing that matters is our relationship with God. We have to remember that this life and these material things are only temporary, regardless of our relationship with God; but if we surrender to Him, our true future awaits us in His kingdom.

Planning for Death

Solomon talks about death a lot. It's a topic many people stray away from, but it's the one thing we can all agree is inevitable. Yet, it's also wildly unpredictable. Some people live to be well over 90, while others dies as infants or toddlers. I could live another 60 years, or I could die tomorrow. We can't control this aspect of our lives. This fact doesn't change based upon the amount of good I have done.

What we can control is whether we will have a second life (which won't end!). As such, we should strive to always be ready. By ready, I mean confident that if something were to happen in the next few seconds causing me die, I want to be all set to face judgment. This means constantly repenting of our sins, forgiving those around us, and making amends for the wrongs we've done. If death comes within the next moment, I want to be clean in God's eyesight and securely written in the Book of Life.

The Meaning of Life

People have been pondering the meaning of life for all time. Some people conclude it's about touching the lives of those around you; others conclude it's about the legacy you leave behind. In a way, both of these theories are encompassed in surrendering to God. If we are walking in our purpose and submitting to God, we will definitely touch the lives of those around us. We will exude compassion, love, joy, patience, etc., and these characteristics will guide our actions to positively impact the people around us. We may not have the most beautiful legacy on Earth after surrendering to God, but we will have a legacy in Heaven, which is much more important.

Conclusion

The brutal honesty of the book is quite refreshing. Despite the phrase "all is vanity" seeming to be the motto of the book, this book actually motivates me. It reminds me that the world's measure of success is false. I am reminded of how everything always points back to God, and I believe this is the key to living a Christ-centered life.

Numbers 16-18: Rebellion

Korah and a few others lead a rebellion against Moses and Aaron.

Introduction

Photocredit: FreeImages.com/Jure Šućur

The Israelites have been rebelling against God, suffering His wrath, and repenting in an almost predictable cycle throughout the books of law, but from Numbers 16-18, we read about a rebellion that occurs within the nation. This time, the rebellion is not against God, but against Moses and Aaron. Essentially, this is rebellion against government.
Top

The Beginning

Korah, the grandson of Kohath (a Levite), is the one to start the rebellion. He is joined by sons of Reuben: Dathan, Abiram, and On. Together, they rise up against Moses, accusing him of appointing both himself and Aaron. The Rebels doubt that God has appointed Moses and Aaron, which I find to be quite interesting. The rebels don't doubt God exists, they doubt Moses. This is yet another section that implies the Israelites already had a relationship with God before they left Egypt. Their forefathers had passed down knowledge of God and the Israelites, while they may have strayed from His laws, never doubted God's existence. This says a lot. It also makes you wonder what made them doubt Moses' and Aaron's position since God was holding up His end of the bargain...

Another interesting point stems from their motivation. The sons of Reuben would naturally think someone from the tribe of Reuben should be in charge since Reuben was the first born. Presumably, they would believe the prince of Reuben should have leadership. This would have been Elizur, not the 3 men who were stirring up trouble with Korah. What doesn't make sense is how and why Korah became the leader of this rebellion. As a Levite, his tribe was favored by God. He didn't want to turn that favor over to the tribe of Reuben, he wanted more power for himself and the Kohathites. So how did the 4 of them end up in this rebellion together?

Regardless of how they determined to work together, the 4 men would have witnessed God working through Moses. There are plenty of instances where God's power is put on display through Moses, what did they think that meant? Why were they so blind to this? People today are no different! Many churches (at least 2 or 3 on just the road I grew up on) have split simply because members disagree. These people don't include God in the discussion, they simply follow their own heart.

In Korah's case, the Kohathites were already exalted above the Levites, and the Levites above the other tribes. Likely, he believed he was to be in a higher position than the sons of Amram because his father was older.^[2] Their greed for power led them away from God's Word and the obvious, yet on the surface, it would have appeared they were trying to get closer to God. They would have sounded as though they were concerned that the right person was speaking for God, which may have swayed people to their side. This is what false preachers do today. We are not told if these men were fully aware of their actions and trying to get power, or if they really believed they were right. This same dilemma applies to many people teaching what they claim is the Word of God today. It may seem like a person means well, but if it doesn't stand up to what God has already said, it isn't right. Praying over contested issues is always the first step in determining the best solution.
Top

Sidenote

An interesting but slightly off topic note is that in the movie, The Ten Commandments, there is a character named Dathan who is an overseer/informant and traitor to the Jews. I only point this out to show how easily bits of the Bible get distorted in Hollywood. I never paid the character any attention, though I did wonder why he had such a big part for someone not mentioned in the Bible. More than likely someone just recycled the real Dathan's name to provide a "realistic" name for the character. Just like the Biblical Dathan, movie Dathan is power seeking and not a fan of Moses, however there are differences. While I don't necessarily see any harm coming from this particular distortion, it's always good to be aware. As believers we should know the Biblical story and be able to recognize deviations; those seemingly minir deviation are how the devil steers people away from God.
Top

God's Reaction

God's anger peaks when the Kohathites offer incense to God, who shows up angry and ready to destroy the whole nation of Israel. This should had been further proof to Korah and the others that the correct order was already set; God didn't get angry when Aaron brought forth offerings. Moses and Aaron fall on their faces—a sign of respect and adoration for God—where they plead for God's mercy. This is yet another reoccurring theme; Moses and Aaron are constantly interceding to convince God not to harm the Israelites after they sin. As the new high priest, Jesus took over this job. God tells them that His chosen saints will die natural deaths, but those who challenged them would be swallowed by the pit.

After God speaks these words, the ground opens and swallows those who rebelled against Moses. The homes of those who rebelled are also swallowed by the pit. I believe this punishment only happened to Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On, because we are told the men who offered incense reaped a different punishment. Fire rained down to destroy them (which actually sounds worse, unless the fire was hot enough for instantaneous death). Strangely, the censors they used become holy after all of this. They are used as a cover for the altar by Elizear. I think the reason for their holiness is probably to serve as a reminder to the remaining Israelites and future generations.
Top

Sheol

The pit is also known as Sheol and is the realm of the dead. Sheol is home to both good and bad souls.^[1] The mentioning and existence of Sheol tells us a lot about the after life, actually. Today, Many people seem to think when someone dies, they are judged and sent to Heaven or Hell right that moment. Of course, when it comes to friends and family, they always say the person is in Heaven. So, often you hear the phrase "they're looking down on me from Heaven" or "they're in a better place now." However, Revelation 20 discusses the resurrection of the dead to face judgement—meaning they haven't been judged yet and aren't already in Heaven. There is a 1^st resurrection for those who believed and are given eternal life, followed by a 2^nd resurrection for those who did not believe, which are cast out to die a final death. The mentioning of Sheol in the Old Testament only reinforces the order, because we are told that the dead exist in the same place regardless of their faith or actions. The punishment for the rebels was not Sheol itself, the way people try to make Hell out to be, but the fact that they would never have the chance to convince God they were worthy of Heaven. Therefore, they will likely be resurrected during the 2^nd resurrection and be denied entry to God's Kingdom.
Top

The Blame Game

You would think that after seeing all of this occur, the Israelites would have been convinced that God was standing for Moses as their leader and Aaron as their high priest. This would have settled the matter and everything would have gone back to normal, however, that is not what the people thought after witnessing this. Instead, they blame Moses and Aaron for the deaths of the rebels. In reality, the rebels rebelled against the order God had set, thus rebelling against God Himself, and caused their own demise. We see this type of illogical behavior today as well. People will get mad when believers stick to the Word of God. In fact, even outside of faith we see people get upset when a wrongdoer is punished for their crime. The Israelites who engage in this behavior are also punished for passing the blame to those who were in the right. This is an example of calling good evil and evil good.

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!Isaiah 5:20 KJV

Top

Settling the Matter

God knows that He must settle the matter to stop the Israelites from rebelling so He tells them to each take a rod according to the house of their fathers and each man was to write his name on his rod. Aaron was to be the one to enter a rod from the tribe of Levi. All of the rods were placed before the Ark of the Testimony. God promised to make the rod of the chosen one blossom, which would squelch any doubt and settle the dispute once and for all.
Top

God Chooses

We already know that Aaron is the chosen one, so there is no mystery to whose rod blooms. In addition to blooming, the rod yields almonds. They set the rod before the Ark of the Testimony as a token and reminder of God's decision. This settle the matter for the Israelites, who then understand they are not to approach the tabernacle like the rebelling Kohathites did.
Top

Duties of the Chosen

As God's chosen representative, Aaron bore the responsibility of both the tabernacle and the priesthood. This responsibility would pass down through Aaron's son. In addition, God reminds the Levites that they are chosen to perform the services of the tabernacle. Every clean male from the priestly lineage was to eat of the offerings, which were reserved for them. Tithes and redemption money were also to go to the Levites; this payment replaced their inheritance. The idea of a 1/10th tithe partially stems from Numbers 15:21-26, where the Israelites are required to give 1/10^th of everything in Israel to the Levites as a tithe. From the Levite's 1/10^th, 1/10^th was to be given to God.

References

1. Holman Bible Publishers. Holman KJV Study Bible. pg. 261. 2014
2. "Numbers 16". Bible Study Tools. 2014